The Translation of the Democratic Intellect: Scottish Literary Education in Tokyo

Abstract

I Method This survey of attitudes towards Scottish culture is based on fifteen-question questionnaires distributed to undergraduate students in Tokyo before and after Scottish literature courses I conducted during the period 2000-2004. The questionnaires were distributed to students at three different universities, one singlesex private, one mixed private, and one mixed national, all in Tokyo. The courses fell under various names, which had a bearing on students’ expectations and thus how well they were able to relate the national specificities of Scottish literary culture to other questions within the humanities. Approximately two-thirds of the recipients responded in all, and the larger absolute number of respondents from the first institution is mostly due to the fact that I taught the course for three years (extended from one) and that the number of students was surprisingly high, at times exceeding 100. No student filled in the questionnaire twice, even if they attended the course more than once, and all students answered independently, that is, without conferring with one another. An attendance record of two-thirds was expected, though not strictly enforced, giving rise to the possibility of students missing something apparently obvious; one irony is that Japanese students spend much of their fourth year sorting out their jobs to come (and there were a few finalists in these classes).